Target boycott continues: store gets taken over by singing flash mob

Boycotting has never been so entertaining. A flash mob took over a Seattle Target store to protest the company's donation to a controversial candidate. Singing, dancing and live music are kinder ways to prove a point and get a message across than shouting, but is it working?

Target's $150,000 donation to Minnesota Forward, a political action committee that supportsTom Emmer as the Republican candidate for governor of that state, has drawn criticism from gay rights advocates who are up in arms regarding his opposition to gay marriage and gay rights and his reported affiliation with a group that advocates the execution of homosexuals.
Target apologized for the donation, but didn't take it back or make an in-kind donation to a gay rights group as many demanded. The company is sticking to its guns (and so is Best Buy, which donated $100,000 to MN Forward). MoveOn.org has called for a boycott and is funding actions like the Seattle event and advertisements asking consumers to boycott Target (but not Best Buy). MSNBC declined to run the ad, but it's gotten nearly 36,000 views on YouTube in just half a day and will reportedly run on other cable and local stations.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Target is starting to feel the heat from more than just shoppers and employees:

Three management firms that collectively hold $57.5 million of Target stock -- Walden Asset Management, Calvert Asset Management and Trillium Asset Management -- filed a proposal asking Target's independent board members to undertake a "comprehensive review of Target's political contributions and spending processes including the criteria used for such contributions," according to a statement released Thursday night.

These represent big blocks of investors, including groups like the New York state pension fund that holds approximately 3.8 million shares of Target stock, or about $283 million.